NEW DELHI: Men drink and smoke more, while women tend to be obese and do less physical activity, said a WHO report, which provided a global assessment of inequalities in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) report said gender and age strongly shape exposure to non-communicable disease risk factors.
While males had higher alcohol and tobacco use, higher salt intake and higher mean total cholesterol than females, women had higher obesity prevalence than men, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and higher prevalence of insufficient physical activity.
Males, however, had substantially lower coverage of hypertension diagnosis and treatment than females. But hypertension prevalence was slightly lower in females than males.
Occupational diseases like pneumoconiosis and interstitial lung disease also had higher prevalence among males.
However, men and women share some similarities when it comes to NCDs.
Diabetes prevalence and treatment coverage were similar in females and males, as was the prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases.
However, what is more common is that for both genders, obesity prevalence tended to be highest among adults aged 40–70 years.
Physical inactivity increases with age, particularly after age 60 years.
In predominantly low-and middle-income countries (LMCs), alcohol use tended to be lower among younger adults (aged 15–24 years) and older adults (aged 65 years and over) than among people aged 25–64 years.
Overall, tobacco use was lowest among the oldest and youngest adults. Also, there was lower alcohol use among people aged 55 years and over compared with younger adults.
The report, 'State of inequality: noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors’, covered four major NCDs – cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes – and key risk factors including tobacco and alcohol use, obesity and unhealthy diets, insufficient physical activity and air pollution.
The report also highlighted that less educated populations tend to have higher rates of hypertension and diabetes, especially among those who are living in low-and middle-income countries.
The WHO report said that across countries, poorer and less-educated women are less likely to receive cervical cancer screening.
Citing India’s example, it said that the uptake of breast and cervical cancer examination and testing was low in India, where poor, non-educated and rural-residing women were less likely to participate in early detection tests than their counterparts.
“The extent of economic-related inequality was more pronounced in rural than urban areas,” it said.
The poorest and least educated people tended to report higher tobacco use among males.
Second-hand smoke exposure at home was higher among the poorest and least educated people, who also reported lower prevalence of believing that second-hand smoke exposure can cause serious illness.
Poorer households in low- and middle-income countries reported higher exposure to household air pollution than richer households.
“We know that there are inequalities embedded in all aspects of health, but this is the first effort to systematically measure inequalities in NCDs and their risk factors on a global scale,” said Dr Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Health Inequality Monitoring Team Lead at WHO.
“The findings show which populations are being left behind, and also where a lack of inequality data hinders our understanding of inequalities.”
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors are the leading causes of death globally.
In 2023, 40% of deaths from NCDs were premature - occurring before age 70 - and many could have been prevented, the report pointed out.
Rural households - mostly in LMCs - face the brunt when it comes to exposure to the risk factors that lead to NCDs.
The report said rural populations have less access than urban populations to hypertension diagnosis and treatment and cervical cancer screening.
It also considered how unemployment, disability, and migration status may be associated with exposure to NCD risk factors and access to health care.
Unemployment is associated with higher levels of insufficient physical activity, while people living with disabilities can face greater barriers to prevention, screening and treatment.
Migrants may face financial, administrative, language or other barriers to accessing health services.
